WARNING: The following contains spoilers for DCeased: Hope at World's End #15 by Tom Taylor, Marco Failla, Rex Lokus & Saida Temofonte, on sale now
Thanks to his massive strength and mystical properties, Black Adam is one of a handful of characters who can stand up to Superman. The morally dubious former champion of the wizard Shazam, Black Adam is easily one of DC's most fearsome fighters. However, in the alternate reality featured in DCeased, Superman just proved how easy it is to defeat Black Adam once and for all.
While fighting a corrupted Black Adam in DCeased: Hope at World's End #15, Superman reveals the ultimate counter that can be used to defeat the future DCEU star.
DCeased: Hope at World's End has centered around a number of remaining heroes trying to survive in a world ravaged by the Anti-Life Virus, working to save as many lives as they can from the spread of the virus. With an army of Blighted-Ones finally reaching the Gotham Jungle, a desperate plan has been hatched to separate the armies of the undead from their most powerful corrupted figure, Black Adam. Luckily, the remains of the Justice League prove incredibly effective at this point, with the team of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Superboy, and Wonder Girl working together to hold Black Adam at bay. Despite his otherwise overwhelming power and mystical advantage over the Kryptonians, the heroes are able to contain Black Adam and hold him down while the rest of the Blighted-Ones are sent marching into the Land of Nightshades to try and catch up with Pied Piper and Wink.
Using her Lasso of Truth, Wonder Woman is able to compel Black Adam to speak -- forcing him to say the word "Shazam". This summons a bolt from the Rock of Eternity, which transforms Black Adam back into his human form of Teth-Adam. Although he's still infected by the Anti-Life Virus, this removes his powers. This gives Superman time to follow through on a plan suggested by Lex Luthor: while Wonder Woman distracts the sentient virus, Superman uses his X-Ray Vision, his Microscopic Vision, and his Heat Vision all at once. Pinpointing Teth-Adam's vocal cords, Superman is able to deploy a non-lethal but powerful and precise laser through Teth-Adam's throat, severing the vocal cords in one blast.
This prevents the corrupted Teth-Adam from ever unleashing his powers again -- thereby countering and containing the destructive capability of a corrupted Black Adam into a singular human form. It's a delicate but crafty move by Superman, reminiscent of a similar attack he performed on Manchester Black in the Post-Crisis storyline "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?," where Superman performed a similar combined-vision attack to partially sever a minor piece of Black's brain to remove his telekinetic powers.
The Blighted-Black Adam was capable of surviving mountain-destroying attacks and corrupted an entire nation all on his own. He was arguably one of the most deadly and dangerous of the Blighted-Ones (at least until Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman are infected not long after these events). But even if the Justice League is fated to fall not long after countering the destructive capability of Black Adam, it's still an important victory for the living that allows the survivors the chance to escape the planet and keep the hopes of humanity alive. It's also a reminder that if Superman was creative (and ruthless) enough, he could think of counters for figures strong enough to threaten him.